Next generation of female leaders

During a roundtable presented by Crain's 2010 Women to Watch, jewelry designer Lana Bramlette, Dominican University President Donna Carroll, and Cramer-Krasselt COO Karen Seamen share advice for the next generation of female leaders.

How has the economic downturn affected your business?

This year's Women to Watch are leaders in industries ranging from banking to steelmaking, medicine to law. Find out how this year's honorees are dealing with the challenges of the recession both at work and at home. Some say they're embracing the chance to get back to basics. Others are seizing opportunities for personal as well as professional growth.

How has the economic downturn affected you personally?

This year's Women to Watch are leaders in industries ranging from banking to steelmaking, medicine to law. Find out how this year's honorees are dealing with the challenges of the recession both at work and at home. Some say they're embracing the chance to get back to basics. Others are seizing opportunities for personal as well as professional growth.

A conversation with Desiree Rogers

Former Lottery chief and Allstate executive Desiree Rogers has leftChicago behind for a new role in Washington, D.C. She is now White Housesocial secretary, where she serves both the president as well as thefirst lady. It's her job to coordinate every public event that takesplace at the White House. Hear her describe the challenges in her ownwords.

A conversation with Valerie Jarrett

Valerie Jarrett has accompanied her longtime friends Barack and MichelleObama to the White House, where she now serves as a senior adviser tothe president. Here, in her own words, she describes her new life at theepicenter of power in Washington, D.C., as well as the challenges ahead.Despite the frequent 18-hour days and pressure of the job, she'sembracing this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.

The Collider Queen

As deputy director of Fermilab, Young-Kee Kim is fighting to keep the lab one of the best in the world in the face of budget cuts and stiff competition from Europe. This fall, CERN, in Geneva, Switzerland, will turn on an accelerator seven times more powerful than the one at Fermilab, putting Fermilab at danger of losing the best and brightest scientists who have been coming to the U.S. for decades to do their research.

Hard science at the Botanic Garden

Sophia Siskel, CEO of the Chicago Botanic Garden, is overseeing a $100-million expansion to turn the garden into a world center for plant conservation research. The new science center, scheduled to break ground this summer, will include seven laboratories where scientists will study how plants can help prevent global warming.

The faces of Chicago's best

This year's Women to Watch features a cross-section of professionals, from a real estate guru who writes the "bible" on the downtown Chicago condo market and to an accountant who chases fraud in Ecuador to a Middle East policy expert who faced a tough interviewer on "The Daily Show With Jon Stewart."